The Flyers traded with the St. Louis Blues to take the No. 27 pick and selected center Morgan Frost. Brayden Schenn went to the Blues and the Flyers got Frost, a conditional 2018 first-round pick and Jori Lehtera.
Dave Isaac/Courier-Post

Another decision could be to make or keep the pick, although Hextall said Thursday evening he intends to keep it. So, then the question becomes which player does Shero leave him with? Or does he leave them with both?

Considering the Flyers and Devils are in the same division and could be consecutive selections, Hischier and Patrick will be linked together for a long time.

Hextall had dinner with both top players and brought Patrick, who has a long list of prior injuries, to get checked out by the team doctors. Hischer doesn’t have such injury concerns.

“We talked about Philadelphia,” Hischier said. “We talked about the club, what their mindset is, what’s important for them. It was a good dinner. It went well.”

Hischier could be the highest Swiss-born player to be drafted in the league. Nino Niederreiter was selected fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 2010.

This season Hischier came booming onto the scene when he left Bern, where he was playing with his older brother Luca, to adapt to the North American game with the Halifax Mooseheads.

“It was actually a hard decision,” he said. “I really liked it in Bern but in the end I wanted to come over to be a better hockey player and I really think that’s the better way to be a better hockey player. I wanted to see what it’s like to come over and play in North America. It’s a lot of travel, a lot of games. I got the opportunity and I said, ‘If I don’t take it, I’m going to regret it.’”

Hischier racked up 86 points in 57 games and was the Canadian Hockey League’s rookie of the year. He’s put the pressure on Patrick, who played only 33 games this season due to injury. He had sports hernia surgery last offseason and it another one on his other side was missed so he played five games to start the season and was shut down for three months to recover.

“It doesn’t matter that it’s my draft year. I just hate watching,” Patrick said. “I want to be able to contribute to my team. The tougher thing was playing and not being at 100 percent. I didn’t play one game this year feeling myself, feeling 100 percent. I’m excited to get back to where I need to be.

“I could have produced better. My skating is something that was bugging me.”

He still racked up 20 goals and 46 points in those 33 games and the Flyers got “clarity” on his injury history. That won’t hold them back from picking him.

As pundits make their predictions and the hype continues to build ahead of Friday evening’s draft, it would make sense that the players would wonder which team suits them better.

“It’s not up to me and I don’t set any expectations,” Hischier said. “I don’t focus on teams because I know anything can happen. I’m just gonna be open to everything and be happy for sure.”

While the Flyers would likely benefit a bit more from Hischier’s style, Hextall thinks both players would be a catch.

“They’re both two-way players. They both make plays,” the Flyers GM said. “They can both score goals. They both compete hard. Hischier has a little bit more quickness and speed to his game. Patrick’s a little bit more looks for the right play and makes the play. They’re both really good players. Both should be top NHL players.”

And both will likely go in the top two and be compared to each other more over the course of their careers than leading up to the draft itself.

They insist whoever is chosen first doesn’t necessarily get the leg up.

“It’s not going to change my chances to make the NHL if I go one or I go four,” Patrick added. “It’s up to me at the end of the day if I’m gonna make it. Where I go, that’s not gonna help me any more. At the end of the day I’ve got to work hard and I’ve got to get there.”